1. Anti-Transcendentalism AKA Dark Romanticism
This is where it gets weird…

2. They had much in common with Transcendentalists.
Dark Romanticism explored the potential evil in the individual.
Also explored conflicts between good and evil, psychological effects of guilt and sin, and madness.
AKA Gothic Romantics

3. Three Dark Romantics or Anti-Transcendentalists Edgar Allen Poe*
Nathaniel Hawthorne*
Herman Melville
All 3 authors’ styles have multiple levels of interpretation and is loaded with allegories (short moral stories/fables), but each have a slightly different version.

4. The main theory of Dark Romanticism is that the “self ” is the only thing that can be known or verified.

5. Characteristics of Dark Romanticism
focus on the tragic
belief in sin and evil
attention paid to the mysteries of life
not bitter or pessimistic; man is the victim
reverence for human nature and all struggles
believe that individuals are prone to sin and destruction
the natural world is dark, decaying and mysterious
show individuals failing in their attempts to make
changes for the better

6. Gothicism Middle Ages Literature, art, architecture
Ominous (gloomy/evil) settings
Psychological stereotypes
for characters
Themes of anxiety

7. Gothic Elements: Grotesque, mysterious, desolate Powerful symbolism
Extreme situations and settings
Focus on characters’ hearts and/or minds
Themes of
claustrophobia,
projection,
entrapment

8. Edgar Allan Poe

9. 1809 - 1849 Mother dies, father leaves
Lives with Allan family, but never adopted
Marries Virginia, his cousin
Travel, job instability, alcoholism
Virginia dies at 25…Poe goes downhill
Dies at age 40 in Baltimore

10. Poe’s Writing Truthful, often vicious, editor
Worked hard at horror elements to affect reader
Created detective story at age 32
Very influential (worldwide) and very debated
Extreme situations & settings to expose true human nature

11. Poe’s Works “The Raven” “Annabel Lee” “El Dorado”
“The Cask of Amontillado”
“The Tell-Tale Heart”
“The Fall of the House of Usher”

12. Nathaniel Hawthorne

13. 1804 - 1864 Father dies early, mother becomes recluse
12 years of intense reading & writing
Married in his 30s
Scarlet Letter cements his popularity
Friend to Franklin Pierce, Herman Melville, Emerson, Longfellow

14. Hawthorne’s Writings
Focus on heart under conditions (greed, betrayal) to see important truths
Great psychological insight
Theme: past influencing the present (Puritan ancestors)
Theme: impossibility of erasing sin from human heart

15. Hawthorne’s Works “Young Goodman Brown” “Dr. Heidigger’s Experiment”
“The Minister’s Black Veil”
The Scarlet Letter
The House of the Seven Gables